Chapter 232 The firepower is on, three-quarter check-in!
But before they could finish breathing, they saw Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming in front of the technical stage, and their brows suddenly furrowed again.
McGrady still looked sleepy on the outside, but he was holding back a lot of energy in his heart.
I have to say that the Celtics' defense against him in the first quarter was very good.
t-mac has not really performed well in this game so far.
The strategy used by the Celtics is very simple, which is to double-team the moment McGrady catches the ball, forcing him to pass the ball out.
Since several of the Green Army's wing players have good defensive abilities, the double-teaming effect was very good, allowing T-Mac to only score 5 points in the first quarter, which was far lower than the season average.
And when McGrady was taking a break, he kept thinking about ways to crack it.
But now, he already has a rough idea of how to break the situation.
At the same time, Yao Ming, standing next to t-mac, looked serious.
In the first quarter, Dayao was fighting hand-to-hand with the big shark, and it can only be said that he had a slight advantage.
But now, O'Neal's physical fitness has not yet recovered and he is still resting off the court. Only "Big Baby" on the Green Army field is still capable of fighting.
Although Davis has good size and strength, the height difference between him and Yao Ming is too much.
In response to this, Dayao also had a plan to "attack" in his mind.
And before going on the court, he had already communicated his thoughts with Tracy McGrady and received the latter's support.
In McGrady's original words: "We can use a 'combination punch' as a reward for their excellent defense in the first quarter."
............
Both core players played with clear goals, and the effect was naturally different from the first quarter.
The first is Yao Ming.
He relied on his height advantage to easily receive the pass from his teammate in the low post, and then turned around and shot.
With a height of 2.26 meters, plus straight-arm shooting and fadeaway...
Yao's shots like this left Davis with no way to defend and could only pray that the former would not make a shot.
But after Yao Ming lost weight this season, his flexibility improved and his shooting percentage inexplicably increased a lot.
Naturally, he would not let go of this kind of shooting opportunity without any interference.
"Shua~"
The basketball hit the net hollowly and turned the net upside down.
50:45, the Rockets expanded their lead.
A minute later, Yao Ming repeated his old trick and hit the back in the low post again.
The same turn-up jump shot, the same sigh of relief when looking at the ball.
From their reactions to their actions, the two of them seemed to have copied the previous round.
At 52:45, the score difference came to 7 points.
The Green Army coach on the sidelines saw that the situation was not good and immediately turned back to look at the elderly Shark.
But he quickly saw from O'Neal's eyes that the latter was not ready to play yet.
There was no other way. The Sharks used 120% of their energy in the first quarter to get a 50-50 draw with Yao Ming.
This is too much consumption for a 38-year-old veteran!
Rivers turned around helplessly and made a gesture to the players on the court.
Yao Ming also saw this scene, and immediately turned his head and said to his teammates: "They are going to double-team me next. You should be ready for shooting opportunities at any time!"
This is the hidden value of Dayao.
In addition to his excellent basketball skills, he also has a very high basketball IQ and can memorize many opponents' tactics.
This is why Dayao can see Rivers' tactics at a glance!
When the Rockets heard this, all the generals nodded.
During the transition between offense and defense, Pierce deceived George with a fake shot from outside the three-point line, and made a quick stop to succeed in the mid-range, stopping the bleeding for the Celtics.
Looking back, he helped Davis to double attack after Yao Ming received the ball.
Fortunately, Yao Ming had anticipated this and passed the ball in time.
It's just that his passing skills are average, and his cross-court pass almost goes directly to the sideline.
Fortunately, George had amazing bounce, leaped high and blocked the ball.
But this also gave the Celtics time to rotate defensively. Rondo quickly moved laterally to help Pierce cover the defense.
George couldn't take a direct shot and could only pass the ball to the outside and reorganize the offense.
The ball came to McGrady, and opposite him was Ray Allen.
t-mac assumed a three-threat stance and stepped out continuously, making it impossible for the opponent to judge his offensive options.
Time passed by second by second, and there was not much time left for the Rockets to attack.
Just when Ray Allen thought the defense was about to succeed, McGrady suddenly pulled up on the spot and shot a three-pointer over his head...
Allen didn't react in time and could only watch helplessly as T-Mac completed his shot and kicked out an ecstatic scissors kick.
"Shua~"
Although the arc of this long shot was very flat, its trajectory was extremely positive and it finally hit the net!
After scoring the goal, McGrady clenched his fists excitedly.
[Finally opened!]
He thought in his heart.
Fans who have some NBA experience know that you can't hold down a super giant for an entire game (unless he stretches his hips himself).
This three-pointer was like a deep-sea bomb, instantly causing astonishing ripples in the calm water. From this moment on, McGrady's performance was out of control!
Due to Yao Ming's restraint in the paint, the Celtics no longer dare to double-team T-Mac at will.
Ever since, McGrady started his singles show.
First, he used an explosive first step to directly pass Allen and get inside for a layup.
Then, he received a pass from his teammate near the free throw line, turned over and shot a jump shot without making any adjustments...
Hit again!
A minute later, the Rockets launched a counterattack.
McGrady stepped on a meteor, and the white horse spear rushed inside. Facing Garnett who was defending, he switched hands in the air and succeeded again!
In a short period of time, t-mac scored 4 goals in a row and single-handedly helped the Rockets to a 9:2 climax.
As a result, the score reached 61:49, and the Rockets were already leading by as many as 12 points.
Seeing that the situation was about to collapse, the Green Army coach urgently called a timeout.
After the timeout, O'Neal, who had rested for almost a whole quarter, finally returned to the court.
Because of his appearance, the Green Army no longer needed to flank Yao Ming, and the game returned to balance.
In this way, the two sides were locked in a stalemate all the way, and with 5 minutes left in the third quarter, the score remained at around 10 points.
At this time, Curry, who had been resting for a long time, replaced the outburst Tracy McGrady, and Shuhao replaced Lowry, who had performed poorly in the game.
This pair of substitute guns showed amazing firepower as soon as they came on the field.
Shuhao is like "Serena Williams", using his speed to hit the basket time and time again.
After entering the Green Army's penalty area, he either took action himself or passed the ball to the outside, and he single-handedly smashed the Celtics' defense to pieces.
Relying on Hao's impact, the Rockets' two top outside shooters, Curry and Danny Green, both got easy shooting opportunities.
Among them, Curry received special attention from the Green Army due to his outstanding performance in the first half, so he had fewer opportunities.
The "unknown" Danny Green was so happy, he actually got three open three-point opportunities in a few minutes.
As if he was conducting shooting training, he converted these three free opportunities into 9 points!
It was precisely because of Green's perfect shots that the Celtics' defense completely collapsed, and the point difference directly reached more than 20 points.
At the end of the third quarter, the game basically lost its suspense.
At this moment, Shen Fei, who was far away in Houston, calmly turned off the TV.
So far in the game, the Rockets have completely suppressed the Celtics.
Although the Celtics have a tenacious style of play, they will never give up in the fourth quarter and will fight hard again.
However, the Rockets' bench is the deepest in the league, and it is simply more difficult to complete a comeback than to reach the sky.
Especially a team like the Celtics that lacks explosive scoring power (none of the Big Three have this style).
Of course, the Rockets' performance in this game was definitely not perfect.
Especially in the first quarter, the Yao-Mai combination was actually restricted.
This was something Shen Fei didn't expect.
[Yao Ming’s passing and Tracy McGrady’s ability to break double teams still have a lot of room for improvement.]
The Asian youth secretly thought.
Shen Fei is not sure whether the two of them can make further progress.
Fortunately, the emergence of Curry can very well help the two of them avoid these shortcomings.
"In the end, the only ones who can compete with us this year are the Heat and the Mavericks."
Shen Fei muttered to himself.
Recently, he has heard some rumors about the Heat, which are quite interesting.